"You Leave It All On The Mat."

It's a small delegation going to teacher training this Fall, from Toronto. So far, only three of us. And there are at least six active Bikram studios open here, and another two about to open later this year. So hopefully this means there will be classes available for us to teach when we get back.

But that is not the point to this post...

Anyway, because there are just three of us going, we have met up in trio once. And two of us have met up numerous times to practice side-by-side on the weekends. It's nice to practice next to someone who is going to be on the mats with you for the nine weeks.

• There's the camaraderie.
• The sharing of dialogue-memorization tips.
• The dissection of what to pack in the suitcases.
• The gossip.
• The freaking out that it's next week.
• And the sweat.

"The sweat?"

Well, yes. Seems like those of us who are prepping for training sweat a lot more than the average person.

• We sweat so much that if we have to pee in the middle of class, by the end of class we no longer have to pee. It has seeped out through our pores and onto our towels.
• We sweat so much that when we move our hips back fifteen inches in stretching pose, we hear a "squish" from our soggy Shaktis against the drenched towel.
• We sweat so much that when we roll up our mats after class, a torrential downpour escapes out the sides of the roll and pierces the silence of the room.

But this is all a good thing. Sweating is what your body needs. And a good sweat is a sign of a valuable practice.

"(The bucket of sweat you left on the floor means) you leave it all on the mat," I said to my fellow trainee today. I expanded my theory for her though...

"When you have a good sweat, it means your body got out a ton of junk: Stress. Chemicals. Pain. Stuff you don't need. You just sweat it all out and left it on the mat."

She agreed.

When in doubt, sweat it out. Bikram yoga is therapy.